Project
Starlight Wardens
SFML
Overview
For my first academic year as Game Programmer, one of the first games I had to make was a space shooter using SFML. It was my first time using SFML and I’m really happy with the result, the game turned out exactly how I envisioned it. The player controls a spaceship and can equip multiple types of weapons and pick up bonuses to boost their stats. Every X seconds, a random piece of equipment or bonus drops in. The goal is to survive 3 enemy waves to win, each wave has a mini-boss and a final boss. The only thing that feels a bit off is that runs depend heavily on which bonuses you get, since it’s all random, which can be frustrating. But I’m still proud of what I built, especially the 3 boss fights!
Gameplay
- Gameplay 1 (First Boss)
- Gameplay 2 (Second Boss)
Bonuses
- Fire Rate (the most powerful one)
- More Bullets (+1 to the number of bullets fired)
- Switch Mode (toggles between spread and straight-line fire)
- Bullet Speed (increases bullet speed)
Equipment
- Auto Cannons - shoots 2 simple bullets
- Big Space Gun - shoots a large, high-damage bullet
- Rockets - fires 4 rockets in a row
- Zapper - fires a laser
What I learned
- C++
- SFML2 - animations, audio, texture loading, and input handling
- Basic game architecture - game loop, texture manager, separating concerns across systems